Behave!

We talk to a lot of CEOs. If you're a CEO (or future CEO) chances are you face the same issues our CEOs face. You worry about: top line revenue and holding onto those key customers; operating margin and how you compare to other industry participants; growth; taxes; regulation; what the competition is up to; customers and what they are going to be influenced by next; and people, your people. And when you think about your competitive advantage and what it depends upon, it is almost entirely dependent upon your people. Your people determine if you hold onto key customers; grow sales; increase margins, out-think the competition; find new opportunities; and grow the business. We know some great CEOs; and the best of them look at their people as key. What you make of your workforce is something your competition cannot copy. It's your greatest advantage. Every penny you take home is dependent upon your people and their behavior. In your pool of talent you have a few really good contributors. The field service representative who, in talking to a customer, hears her complain about a problem she's facing. Your rep picks up on it and says, "It's not my area of expertise, but we have a guy in the company who knows a lot about the system you're talking about. In two minutes he'd be able to zoom in on what your issue is and probably will know how to fix it. Can I ask him to give you a call?" Or the salesperson who calls you on a Saturday while she's golfing and tells you she overheard a conversation in the clubhouse and it looks like you have a potential opening with a big prospect you've been chasing for months and she wants your okay to jump on it. Or the factory floor worker who walks in pushing a contraption he's built in his basement that he says will increase the production throughput about 5% once it's installed, and he turns out to be right. What worries you is that most of your employees are not like this. Most of your employees are 'good' employees. They work hard, deliver against goal, usually achieving at or near 100%. But at 5pm when they walk out the door, they leave the job behind. They are unlikely to call you from the golf course; or see an opportunity in a client conversation; or think through a problem while on a Sunday walk. If they take anything home from work it might be anger with the boss, or a problem with a coworker, or a box of pencils. You know that these 'good' employees are both valuable and expensive. However, you also know that the first kind of employee, the one that loves to find and solve problems, is just as expensive but much more valuable. How much more valuable are they? The Gallup Corporation found that when employees fall into that first group, they are emotionally involved and will generate two and a half times more value than the 'good' employees. How is that value manifest? It shows up in operating margin. Towers Watson did a global study comparing operating margins in companies with different proportions of employees who fit this profile. Where this proportion was high (around 50% of workers) the operating margin was, on average, 17.5 percent of sales stronger. In a $100 million net sales company, that's an incremental $17.5 million flowing down to the income line. Something happens to employee engagement after that first highly engaged day when the employee shows up for work on their first day. We must first figure out what it is that's eating-away at employee engagement. The answer to that question is a little surprising. And it explains why companies have been so unsuccessful in improving employee engagement, and enjoying the big sustained boost to the bottom line that follows. In this book we show you the answer to that question. The answer creates a challenge. The challenge is surmountable and we are going to show you how to get there.